Marked By The Vampire (Purgatory #2)(22)
Author: Cynthia Eden

With wide eyes, Olivia nodded. He saw her stare dip toward the water.

“Yes, love, sorry, but that’s our only option.” She was afraid of the water, he knew that. But better to face the water than a pissed-off werewolf. He caught her hand. Twined his fingers with hers. “It’s all right. I’ve got you.”

She bit her lip. The woman should not be doing that. When she nibbled that plump lower lip, it made him want to bite, and he’d just sprouted that BS about how he could easily hold off on biting her, how he’d wait for her to ask for his bite.

“Olivia…” Shane began, but then his head jerked to right at the distinct popping he’d just heard. A pop. A crack. A…growl. Every muscle in his body stiffened right then. No, oh, hell, no, that sound had better not be what he suspected it was.

“Shane?”

He heard the crack once more. “Bones are breaking.” He hauled her toward the water. “That fool warden is letting the alpha shift.”

“Y-you’re saying a shifted werewolf is coming after us?”

They were at the edge of the water.

“He’ll find us. Wherever we go on this island, the werewolf will find us.” That was why they had to get off that island, right then. “You wished for the seaplane, right?”

“What?”

“You want the seaplane.” His fingers tightened on hers.

“Ouch! Yes, yes, I want the seaplane. I wish it was waiting for us. I want it—”

“Hold your breath.”

She did.

They jumped into the water.

***

The change from man to beast was brutal. Vicious. Painful to see, and probably agony to feel.

Case kept his gun aimed at David as the werewolf shifted. The snapping and breaking of the wolf’s bones seemed to go on forever, but in reality, he knew the transformation only lasted for a few moments. Just a few precious moments and then—

The shifted werewolf started clawing at the ground.

Case frowned at him. “What are you doing? You’re supposed to find the vampire!”

The werewolf kept clawing, digging into the earth, digging down and down, as if he were trying to make a hole right beneath him.

Understanding hit Case. Caves. He’d heard there were a few caves scattered around the island, but they were only accessible from the sea.

And that vamp Shane had gone into the water when he’d fled Purgatory.

“Help him dig!” Case shouted to his men. “Help him!”

But then Case heard another sound on the horizon. At first, it was like the buzzing of a bee hive. But that sound grew louder, stronger.

No, no, not now!

He could just see the shape of the seaplane in the sky. Heading right toward them. That plane shouldn’t have been there right then. There was no damn reason for the plane to come early. He fumbled for his radio and had to lower his gun. “Tell that pilot not to land! Get him out of here!”

As Case shouted, the werewolf’s head turned toward him. Saliva dripped from the beast’s mouth—a mouth bursting with razor sharp teeth.

The gun!

Case tried to aim his weapon once more, but the werewolf leapt for him. The beast’s claws tore into Case’s shirt. Blood soaked him. “Sh-shoot!” Case yelled as he tried to fight the werewolf.

The beast’s teeth closed around his wrist. Sank in deep. Case cried out in pain.

Gunfire blasted.

The werewolf shuddered, jerked back, then raced away.

“After…him!” Case yelled as he tried to sit up. But the men didn’t run after the werewolf. They crowded around him. “What the hell are you waiting for?” Case snarled. Blood pumped from the slashes in his chest and from the wound on his wrist.

“Sir…” One guard spoke, his voice little more than a whisper. “You’ve been…bitten.”

He knew he had—he’d felt the werewolf’s teeth tear into him.

“It’s poison, sir,” that guard continued. “Y-you know that.”

Case shoved to his feet. Staggered.

“The bite either kills you…or changes you.”

Case’s blood covered fingers tightened around his gun. “I said…go after that bastard werewolf!” He took a step forward, and agony ripped through him.

The guards kept talking, but he couldn’t hear them any longer. He was screaming because Case felt as if he were burning alive.

The bite either kills you…or changes you.

Chapter Six

When she crawled up the beach, Olivia heard a low, droning hum sound. Her gaze jerked upward even as her fingers sank into the sand and she saw the seaplane heading toward them.

Relief had her shaking.

“Fucking figured…we are both screwed,” Shane muttered as his hands closed around her h*ps and he hauled Olivia up to her feet.

“Screwed? We’re saved!” She threw her arms around him and held on tight. “We’re going to be all right! We’re going—”

She heard a howl then. A long, angry howl from a wolf.

Shane lifted her into his arms in an instant, then he took off, moving with that vamp agility and speed, and she was so happy to be out of the water and heading toward the seaplane that she didn’t even kick him for carrying her around like a sack of potatoes this time. He’d tossed her over his shoulder as he ran and she did her best to hold on as he rushed toward the droning/whirring sound of the seaplane’s engine.

And the howls followed them. Howls and snarls that seemed to be getting so much closer.

“Stop!” A male’s voice shouted. “Stop or I’ll shoot!”

Shane staggered to a stop.

“Put the woman down.”

She twisted around, trying to see who was shouting orders, and her gaze fell on the armed guards who were positioned at the edge of the dock. Five men stood there, weapons at the ready. Five men who blocked their escape because the seaplane was landing behind them, coming in with a spray of water.

Taking his time, Shane lowered Olivia to her feet.

“Come here, Dr. Maddox!” A blond guard shouted. “We’ll keep you safe.”

That wasn’t just any blond guard. She recognized Evan. The man who’d left her with the wolves. And that jerk was offering her safety? Did she look like an idiot?

“Shane, it’s him, he’s the one who took me—”

Evan fired. The bullet flew through the air. Only the bullet wasn’t aimed at Shane. It was aimed at her.

Shane leapt in front of her. The bullet thudded into his body. She heard the horrifying, sickening sound as it sank into him.